Sony Shifting PS Vita’s Focus to Indie and Third-Party Titles

What should we expect next for the PS Vita? A high-ranking executive at Sony let us in as to the future of the handheld.

In an interview with Polygon, Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony's Worldwide Studios, mentioned that his company is starting to look towards third-party developers, Remote Play functions and indie titles as the main focuses of the PS Vita. With the PlayStation TV on the horizon and being a bit cheaper than the Vita while still offering PS4 Remote Play, Sony has to open the doors of development for more handheld titles. In order to do that, the company had to stop making Vita titles that simply tried to recreate the console experience and move on to more original content.

"When we launched PSP titles, a big talking point was PS2-quality games in your hands," Yoshida said. "It was an amazing experience to play PS2-quality like Twisted Metal on your portable device. But as time went on and the PS3 launched and people started to see next-gen games, that PS2 quality was not enough. People's expectations for the quality just moved on."

"So when we launched the Vita with Uncharted, it was amazing; PS3-like quality in your palm, but as time moved on, you are seeing PS4 quality and people's expectations for the graphic fidelity has gone up."

Since graphics are no longer the main sales point for a PS Vita, the focus on what the handheld has to offer has changed, Yoshida claims.

"It's very fortunate that the indie boom happened and they are providing lots of great content to Vita," Yoshida said. "Gameplay, game mechanic wise, people want to spend 10 minutes, 15 minutes getting in and out. On Vita, it's great with suspended functionality, so these indie games really great for that from a game design standpoint."

Towards the end of the interview, Yoshida teased the possibility of a PS Vita/PS4 bundle in the future. There have been hints of such a bundle, but nothing definitive has arrived in the U.S. as of yet.